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Jane Goodall is one of those people who are so iconic in this society that we forget
that she's still alive, still working, still making discoveries that change the face of
evolutionary studies every single day. The second of her autobiographies, BEYOND
INNOCENCE, offers us a running commentary of her adult life, her work, her personal life,
all the elements that make up the full life of Jane Goodall. Her letters home and those
establishing the precedents of her scientific research are arranged in order of the events
of her life, and the jovial and loving tone of these missives gives a special edge to the
woman as scientist, writer, wife, mother, lover.
Besides the in-depth discussions about her family of apes, those who have survived polio
(we are that close to apes that they are infected with the same diseases as man,
with much the same frightening results), there are in-depth discussions about her family
of man --- her first and second husbands, her divorce, but mostly, her love for her mom
and all those back home who support her in a thousand different ways, and last but not
least, her son, Grub, the "bushbaby" born in Africa, growing up on the
Serengetti, a spry and intelligent rascal who delights his mother at every turn. It is a
wonderful thing about BEYOND INNOCENCE that it can balance the seriousness and great
import of Goodall's work with the besottedness she experiences through childbirth and
child rearing. It is as if she is yet another example of how apes and humans share so many
characteristics: passages about mother apes with their young, caring for sick babies,
burying their dead, parallel some of Goodall's accounts home of young Grub's growing up,
his successes, his messes, his wondrous childhood. BEYOND INNOCENCE is also the diary of a
mother, a woman who lives her personal life to the hilt while exploring new frontiers for
science's sake.
There is a great deal of tragedy and drama in BEYOND INNOCENCE --- some (like the
kidnapping of her research team) screaming to be made into a film, some more personal and
moving (her painful divorce and the death of her second husband). All in all, Goodall's
homey prose and honest portrayals of the days and nights of herself and her ever-changing
team of workers make BEYOND INNOCENCE a hard-to-put-down read. Hers is a life she could
not even have imagined, and it is remarkable that she has been able to have the sort of
real life and the career together that makes it a marker for feminists especially
--- her priorities in place (family comes first), she wends her way through her work life
without sacrificing the things most important to her. It is a valuable lesson for anyone
to learn and fascinating reading besides. A triumphant look inside an important woman's
life.
--- Reviewed by Jana Siciliano
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